Total Fan Girl

Geek, Cars, and Gadgets

About Total Fan Girl

Freelance Automotive Journalist and Geek: BestRide, CarGurus, The Boston Globe, The Other PTA. Vice President New England Motor Press Association. Fan of All Things SciFi and Fantasy. No Sparkly Vampires Allowed!

Pacific Rim: Movie Fun At Its Finest

I saw Pacific Rim this weekend and it was the most fun I’ve had at a movie this summer. It might be the most fun I’ve had at a movie in years. Yup, strong words for a flick that didn’t win the weekend, make ungodly amounts of money, or have critics singing its praises. It didn’t need any of those things to be a success for fans because this was all about having a good time and on that count, it succeeded. [No Spoilers]

I wrote a few weeks ago about how I was looking forward to seeing this movie. Just watching the trailers I knew it was going to be cheesy-robot-monster fun so unless it had turned out to actually be about tea and scones, there was a good chance I’d walk away happy. What I couldn’t say for sure was just how big a smile I’d have on my face. The answer? Ear-splitting grin.

Now, let’s be clear. This is not epic film-making in some Oscar-worthy sense. The special effects were up there, especially the Kaiju, which were a wonderful amalgam of dinosaurs and aliens. They scared the daylights out of me in that good girlie-scream kind of way rather than the nightmares-for-a-month kind of way. On that count, there’s cause for praise no matter how you feel about the movie overall.

On every other count there is room to quibble. The dialog may lean toward cheesy. The story isn’t exactly complex and the writing isn’t the most brilliant, but the film succeeds on the one point where it had to succeed in order for it be loved by fans. It was loads of cheesy-robot-monster fun.

Don’t sit in the theater and analyze things. Don’t wonder why they didn’t do this or that and solve the whole problem two minutes into the movie. This is a genuine, no-holds barred fun ride. It’s a case of wanting to see the underdog win. It doesn’t matter if he’s one man, a city, or the whole human race. You just want him to win and you’ll be right there with him cheering the whole way.

Go see Pacific Rim and have fun enjoying a movie like you did when you were twelve, and stay through the credits for what may be the best shawarma scene since The Avengers.